Overall, construction materials prices fell 0.5 percent in November and are up only 1.1 percent year over year, according to the Department of Labor’s Dec. 13 Producer Price Index. Nonresidential construction materials are down 0.6 percent for the month and are 0.7 percent lower than the same time last year. Read the rest of entry »

National construction employment expanded by 17,000 jobs in November, according to a Dec. 6 report by the U.S. Department of Labor. Nonresidential construction added 7,700 positions on a monthly basis, contributing nearly half (45.2 percent) of the overall gain in construction employment. Read the rest of entry »

Nonresidential construction spending increased 1.6 percent on a monthly basis in October after declining 1.3 percent in September, according to the Dec. 2 release by the U.S. Census Bureau. (This release contained two months of data because of the federal government shutdown.) On a year-over-year basis, nonresidential construction spending is down 0.7 percent through October. Spending totaled $575.563 billion for the month on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis.Read the rest of entry »